The need for more ‘hands on deck’ here grows on a daily basis.  This isn’t just a tired Care Partner speaking: anyone who is in regular contact with Maureen sees how much her presentation is changing.  Chloe, our regular carer, has to answer the same round of questions whenever she sits with Maureen for a couple of hours.  ‘When are you going on holiday; have you got a car’; to mention just two of the regular queries.

Two hours after Chloe had left yesterday afternoon Maureen asked me ‘if she was coming today?’  She clearly had no recollection of three hours she had spent with Chloe earlier in the day.

During the afternoon I followed Maureen on one of her walkabouts.  Keeping a short distance behind I observed her antics at close hand.  It soon became clear that she is struggling with her sense of direction; wandering down dead ends and drives to other peoples’ properties. As we approached the Drive we live in she declined to follow me as I returned home with some necessary urgency.  Following much needed relief It took me half an hour to  track her down as she wandered away from our house in the direction of Cleethorpes.

It is unfortunate that our social worker was unable to keep her appointment wtih us yesterday afternoon.  This is causing further delays in the urgent need to review Maureen’s care needs.  My work load is now impossible: keeping Maureen safe; trying to lift her mood and carry out domestic duties on a 24/7 basis is too taxing.  There is now a significant risk of carer burn out and more help is urgently needed.

I am also no further forward with my plans to visit family in Coventry and London.  It is one thing to try to become more dementia friendly, and I am doing my best on that front.  Just a glimmer of hope on a bit of ‘me time’ even significant respite would just hit the right spot at the moment.

The next thrust in my Action Plan has to be getting a Case Conference underway to obtain the level of support that is now needed here.  My Admiral Nurse keeps asking me what she can do to help and I have told her straight: ‘convene a Case Conference for 11.30 on Friday’.